Brent and Carissa Votroubek | Married 10 years
Brent Votroubek, realtor with Skogman Realty
Carissa Votroubek, entrepreneur and franchise owner of Scooter’s Coffee
How did your love story begin? At the Cedar Rapids Art Museum in September of 2009. Carissa was working for KGAN/KFXA with one of Brent’s best friends from high school. The night they met at the art museum, Carissa’s work was hosting an event for their advertisers. Brent and his family were invited and Brent’s friend made the introduction. Like they say, the rest is history…
Favorite thing about one another: Carissa: I love his ambition. He never gives up. If he commits to something, he sees it all the way through. He has his hands in real estate sales, development and entrepreneurial endeavors. He also has the biggest heart. He would do anything for anyone. His love language is gift giving. Which explains a lot, because he loves doing random things that make other people smile. It’s one of the first things that drew me to him. That, and his smile could light up a room!
Brent: She is smart, kind, beautiful and a boss mom. She knows what she wants, and she won’t give up until she gets it. She manages three and soon-to-be five Scooter‘s Coffee shops where she has an amazing team and staff that admire her and, on top of that, she comes home and takes care of our two girls, 5 and 2. She is the glue that holds our family together.
Favorite date night: We both love going to the movie theatre. It’s one thing that we did a lot before kids. We had an unbelievable amount of Marcus Theatre points built up! Now, post-kids, we enjoy watching movies at home or getting into a good Netflix series. Even if we don’t necessarily watch whatever is on, it’s extremely important for us to just sit next to each other in bed or on the couch and at the very least be around one another. We also make sure to do a date night outside of the house at least once a week too. Whether that’s just the two of us, or with friends. We are both extroverts and draw a lot of our energy from other people.
Favorite tradition you have as a couple: The year we got married we decided to start purchasing one Christmas ornament from the National Czech and Slovak Museum each year, as we are both from Czech heritages. We have now turned that into taking our kids each year and letting them pick one out too. Then as they get older and start their own tree, they can take all their ornaments and start a tradition with their own families. We try to pick out an ornament that signifies something monumental that happened during the year.
What does your happily ever after look like? We are goal-oriented people. Brent likes to write them down, and Carissa likes to visualize and talk about them. We make individual and family goals every year, then work on checking them off together. We just bought a second home in Scottsdale, Ariz., last year and plan to open up more Scooter’s Coffee and Jimmy John’s stores in the coming year. We also have a lot of travel plans in the near future as well. We are celebrating 10 years of marriage this fall and planning our first trip to London and Paris. We always try to invest in each other. Because at the end of the day, we are the heart of the home we have built. And setting a good example for our children is the biggest priority that we have!